Testosterone replacement therapy is a prescription medication therapy for low testosterone levels, to restore those levels to a normal range. It comes in many forms: pills, topical gel, injections. Pills can have negative side effects and injections aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, so we prescribe a gel for an easy and simple treatment. Just rub it onto your skin once a day, and it gives you a measured dose of testosterone that will absorb naturally into your system.

While testosterone is a hormone and therefore medically falls under the category of steroid, illegal doping and TRT could not be more different. TRT is medically supervised, Health Canada approved, and restores your testosterone to normal, healthy levels. Illegal doping uses far higher doses of testosterone, and because it’s not Health Canada regulated anything can be in them…and often is.

TRT is just testosterone, prescribed only to those who need it, in the amount that is healthy for you. So you can get back to your normal.

Every person is different, but for most the effects of TRT can be felt consistently after the first 3 months. Sex drive and mood are usually the first to improve, along with higher energy levels. Decreasing weight gain and improving muscle takes longer to see, though if combined with diet and exercise, can be achieved earlier. Bone density also improves around this time and is of course the hardest to notice, but is well worthwhile; it lowers the chances of getting painful issues like osteoarthritis as you age.

Every three months, we follow up with you to see how it’s going! We give you another lab requisition form so you can send us another blood sample, which our medical team then reviews to check your levels, ensure everything is good, and determine if your dosage needs to be adjusted.

Checking your levels can include more than just checking your testosterone. There are other biomarkers that may be causing your symptoms, whether that’s hair loss, low libido, fatigue, or others. Keeping an eye on these levels is a good insurance policy for good health.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

Vitamin deficiency
Vitamins in general are, unsurprisingly, important for a healthy body. They help your body function properly, making healthy hair, eyes, skin, bones, you name it. It keeps your mood stable and helps your immune system resist illness. In fact, they do so much that deficiencies in any vitamin can cause a variety of symptoms. Given how many vitamins our body uses, taking a test to figure out what’s coming from where is the easiest way to untangle it.

If you live in Canada, there’s one vitamin it’s particularly good to keep an eye on: Vitamin D. Vitamin D keeps our bones strong, boosts the immune system, and helps keep our mood stable. All those things are weakened at lower levels, increasing risk of ostheoartheritis, depression, and susceptibility to illness. We get vitamin D primarily from sunshine, which the great north doesn’t always get a lot of. That’s why Canadians’ odds of being vitamin D deficient are, in our humble opinion, ridiculously high. By which we mean 70 – 97% high

Lipid & blood glucose imbalance
Lipids are an essential part of cellular development, hormone balance, and vitamin absorption. Low levels can reduce your ability to absorb vitamins and nutrients, and lower your production of essential hormones – hormones like testosterone. High levels can cause high levels of LDL cholesterol, which increases your risk of heart and liver disease.

Glucose is blood sugar, and one of our primary sources of energy. As such, keeping it level is a priority. High levels can be indicative of diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and others disorders. Uncontrolled levels increase your risk of heart attacks, kidney disease, and stroke.

All of the tests we offer use a blood sample for analysis. After you order the tests you want — and fill out our short online consult so we’re sure there’s nothing big that makes you ineligible for treatment — we email you a lab requisition form. This form tells the lab that takes your sample what test to do.

After the sample is analyzed, the lab sends the results to us and our team of specialists looks it over. Once reviewed, they send you a message in your Jack account to book a virtual appointment to go over the test results, and what your treatment recommendations are. Simple as that.

Our medical team’s review of your tests may be covered if you have a health spendings account (HSA). You can check with your plan provider about your HSA for more info.

TRT treatment may also be covered by your insurance. Coverage varies depending on your plan type, ranging anywhere from 10% to 90% coverage. Once your TRT prescription is processed by the pharmacy, a team member will reach out to you to discuss how much is covered.